Yajna Patni
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Posts posted by Yajna Patni
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Weel... i have talked about my budget before... 10$=about half my groceries for the week... So it is some stuff from china town, it was $2.75 in a tin that has a picture of a mountain and a dragon on it. It claims to have been "prepared with traditional sanitary method and giving the most fragrant flavour when cooked"
I can not comment on the traditional sanitary method, but it is kind of fragrant. it definitely has the oolong flowery flavour, although marred by extreme bitterness, and i like bitter. . My biggest issue is it has a gigantic amount of caffeine and i am very sensitive to that. But it is fine in a blend. I am not sure i would want to use a fine oolong and mess it up with lapsang.
True, if i was a little more flush i would spring for a few degrees better, although this tin does promise me at the bottom that "an exellent drink guaranteed" do you think i could take them up on it?
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Today I am drinking my own blend. Something i never did before. I have been wanting a Russian Caravan, and can't find one i can afford, so i mixed it myself. 1/3 Oolong, 1/3 lapsang souchong, 1/3 keemun. I like it a lot. The flowery oolong and the smoke mix very well, and the keemun give is body and fills in the background.
I will make this again!
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I love the smokey and strong... the more tarry and smokey the lapsang, the more i love it.
i really don't like flavored tea. I do like Herbal tea, but dont really think of it as tea, and don't really like weird ones with all kinds of silly flavours like tropical melon peach etc. straight up mint, rooibos or chamomile for me. And flavored balck tea just is unleasant for the most part. I can deal with jasmine in small quantities.
I don't like earl grey much either. It was my grandads special occasion tea (my grandma's and mom was the Lapsang), so it has a certain sentimental thing to me. I think i might like it if the bergamot was a lot less strong.
Not really a fan of anything that has a note that might be described as "sweet" or "vegetal".
Not fond of anything that tastes "weak" to me. I do not for the most part like green tea although i am really looking forwardto the upcoming tasting, and learning some more about them. Nastily, i love green tea "flavored" ice cream bubble tea etc.
For the most part, I find iced tea nasty. It just seems wrong to me... kind of like eggplant strawberry jello or something
damn.. i have a lot to say about what i dont like.
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Dear Maggie the Cat,
"I had a tangential career relationship with the TR company, a Chicago firm, and we got boatloads of free Tootsies. I was never tempted, not even once, and I could have filled my purse with them."
I worked for 10 years at Harvard Medical School, and my office was in a building named for Mrs. Tootsie roll. I cant remember the real name, but we called it the Tootsie Roll Hall of Medicine. They never gave us a single free tootsie roll! Worse, every time Mrs Tootsie came for a tour WE were expected to buy bowls of Tootsie Rolls from OUR budgets to impress her.
I think Tootsie rolls are vile. I did not grow up in the US, and always thought you had to grow up with them to appreciate them. Good to hear of an American that dosn't like them either!
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I agree with what Gautam said.
and i have a related point of my own.... to me, (and let it be said that I lack any figures to back me up so it is total conjecture) many of us, particularly in the US have become so divorced from the actual production of our food, that it has become a kind of abstract concept. When we have no money, instead of stuffing our apartments with tubs of tomatoes etc, our first thought is to clip coupons and buy weird semi chemical food.
On the other hand, for some food becomes a holy grail, something to seek out the rare and fantastic, and on the uglier side, something to parade our knowledge and connoisseurship as something to prove we are better, richer, more artistically sensitive, a better gourmand/foodie that others.
and another issue... Europe sucks too. It is not all glorious peasants cheefully working and coming home at night and enjoying their rough bread and dab of olive oil. As Gautam pointed out, the past has not been pretty. And in many ways, the present is more American that you may think.
Us rural products are every bit as interesting as non us ones!
I have tried to write this in as inoffensive tone as possible. It is not meant to offend. but perhaps provide some thought or discussion.
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Two questions..
Has any one tried tea from Peets? and does anyone know of a Russian caravan that they like?
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Just as a note, lemongrass is really good added to a pot of regular black tea. I would go with a lighter eg darjeeling, and just put a bit of cut up or squashed lemon grass stalks in when you brew the tea. It comes out subtle but rather good.
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I tried another couple of goes with my tea. I used the rest of the leaves in my small Tea pot, and filled it half full, which gave me about one mug of tea.
I tried this time with water on the boil, and the 10 second rinse. This rinse did do a lot to take away some of the barnyard aroma. The first soaking came out very dark coloured. almost black coffee coloured.
I could smell an edge of something akin to the barn in the aroma. I am trying to describe the taste. The smooth syrupy mouth feel was very prominent. There was a back edge of bitterness which I really liked, and the main flavor i don't know how i would describe it? Malty fermented hay?
In a funny way, it reminded me of Korean barley tea. I think it is barley, usualy drunk iced in the summer.
I tried another steeping. boiling water, small pot half full. I didn't find a whole lot of difference, it was all a little mellower, the syrupy mouth feel was there, and the bitter back was gone, and the hay had mellowed into something more funky and well... mellow.
All in all... i didn't hate it. It was quite different to what i generally drink. and the funkiness is something i think with work i could come to appreciate. I am glad i tried again, first time i really did not see it as somthing i could get to like.
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The milk/health of tea issue makes total sense. I have always wondered about why, if tea is so healthy, are the English and Irish so totally unhealthy, ad at least in my family who drank tea every few hours, so prone to heart attacks and strokes.
I have also thought about the tannin/milk/taste issue. I grew up on the heavy tannin modified with milk and or sugar style of tea. I like it. As Gautam says above, I share this taste with a lot of people. As an aside, as i understand it, the older Irish way to prepare tea was like Indian style, was to boil it with milk and sugar. No one does it like that now though.
Does it make sense for me to think I do not share this taste with many Americans? My reading of a lot of these threads lead me to believe that for many people in the US their entry to tea drinking was iced tea.
Iced tea undeniably tastes better with fewer tannins, at least as it is prepared in this country, and most of the America store brand teas, us lipton, rose etc, are very untannic,. And this is a taste profile that has become familiar to people?
I find a lot of times, as Richard Kilgore said, different words bring different associations to people, to me e.g. a movie described as lyrical, is long and boring. Many teas described as "sweet" strike me as bland, or vegetal.....and it seems to me american tastes run to these teas. (I am in NO WAY sugesting this is bad or less, but just sayin')
and perhaps i am just unemployed with far too much time to think!
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I am the weirdo that likes the tannin, and also the taste of well boiled milk.
But the straining is a pain. getting the last of the milk off the strainer is not a fun job. I use whole spices, I don't like powdered because they don't taste right, and make a funny texture to me, and i often don't strain it well. I pour it from the pot to the up with a saucer over the edge of the pot to keep the ctc and spices in.
I also like the taste of the tea. I cant stand it when it is overwhelmed in spice or sugar.
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also... i forgot to add, i use about half milk and half water.
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BTW.. they do foam milk in India.. they pour it amazingly rapidly between two cups, making a giant stream. This aerates the milk, and foams it up.
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I usualy make it with taj mahal ctc, put the tea and spice...
usualy just cardamom, sometimes cardamom with ginger or black pepper, once in a while, cloves star anise, cardamom, and ginger ...i like to use black cardamom for the smokey taste.
I boil the tea and spices for a few minutes, well stewed, then add milk and a little sugar, and bring it to the boil three times.
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I was raised on Bewleys and Barry's gold blend.
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Reading the above i will trying rinsing the leaves for my next try.
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I got mine and brewed up one brewing.
I used 2 tea spoons, and water just off the boil.
I brewed it in a regular tea pot because that is what i have got.
It is a small pot that makes about 2 cups of tea, and has a metal insert to remove and stop leaves over brewing.
I tried the first cup after just a few minutes. It was a pale amber colour. very beer-like in colour. my first impression was, as said above, barnyard. More specifically, to me, cow pie. I have lived a lot round cows, and that is not a negative connotation to me. unsure however how i feel about it in a beverage.
The tea had a very smooth and silky mouth feel. Was entirely absent of the tannin tang, that i typically enjoy, but also that i typically drown with milk. Also absent was the vegetal sweetness that i find in some Chinese teas, esp green tea, that i tend to avoid.
The next cup i let soak while I drank the first one. This second cup, was stronger, the colour a dark reddish brown. the barnyard was richer and more intense. but still to me barnyard. I could not really detect any background flavours. This cup had more of a tang of tannin, but not enough to make me long to dump in some milk. but still the strong but rather mellow barnyard taste.
It was very interesting. I still have some left, and i may brew it with hotter water and see what happens.
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You could make whiskey sours, and call them brown acid... they are brown and acid/sour right?
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I can second Lanny's Alta Cocina Mexicana., that place absolutely kills it. Amazingly good.
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Is there a thread somewhere on folk's vintage/antique appliances? I love that stuff! I have quite a bit myself, but live in a teeny apt with a teenier kitchen, so have to put the brakes on a lot. I would love to see collections of those that have more space!
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Just finished the limoncello.... its really really delicious!
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Well I know what my Bangladeshi friend is bringing me back next time she goes home!
Honestly though I think a lot of snobbery is invented to part fools from their money. No offense to any one. But the world is full of people who can't taste the difference but pay for the status.
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Thanks Gautam!
I will have to try out the autumnal flush... I am a milk in tea person, and tend to like the later flushes better anyway.
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Even a wonderful first flush darjeeling will not kill your budget usually.
I have in the past bought a few ounces, and had a fancy tea party. Much cheaper than fancy wine too!
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I suggest trying out English and Irish Breakfast for blends. Teavana probably has some. For non blends.. Assam is another good choice, as would be Ceylon or Keemun. Cheaper Darjeeling is good too. (not that the expensive ones aren't amazing).
I don't think you will find that much worth while in the grocery store.
For the grocery store route, you need to find the ones that sell Chinese/Indian/or Irish Groceries.
Some people like Earl greys, and i am sure teavana has a few. I think they are vile. but that is me. Get a decent one at Teavana and see how you like it. (don't bother with the grocery store twinings etc, those are just crass, and excuse to disguise poor quality tea with far too much flavouring.)
I just read you prefer cultured cup to teavana. I don't know either place, but my suggestion is to get your teas from which ever tea store you like. I think you will find that their blends and single source teas are you best bet. Just get ones toward the end of the price spectrum that makes you comfortable.
I don't think i cheaper tea is necessarily a worse tea. There are teas for different purposes. For me, i the morning, I ant something robust and strong enough for milk. i don't really want to have to do justice to my first flush Darjeeling.
DIYS Tea Blending
in Coffee & Tea
Posted
But if we are talking about it like music.... the lapsang is the bass note, the keemun the mid range, and the oolong the treble. the keemun fills in the spaces, the oolong plays around on the top, and the lapsang sings the deep bass. This one might be a little bass heavy, but definitely benefits from the playful oolong soprano.